The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-05-21

to the custom of the country, any neg
lect OF which is taken as an affront."
Bunyan. the immortal tinker. strongly
reprobated the practice which had
grown to such lengths, and asked its
defenders "Why they made balks?
Why they saluted the most
handsome and let the ~ill-favored ones
go? In France the custom found
great favor and has fingered to a
greater extent than in our country.
To an Englishman, full Of his insular
reserve, there is something unmanly in
the way men at a public railway sta
ton in France salute each other upon
both cheeks; and yet in England itself
it was at one time the recognized form
Of s~alutation, so much so that we find
Rustic Sprightly complaining to the
Spectator of a courtier who merely
contented himself with a courtly bow,
instead Of kissing the ladies all round
upon entering the room. But not only
was it usual for a gentleman to kiss a
lady, but it was ceremonious for the
sterner sex to thus salute each other.
In Wesley's journal, dated June l6,
1858, we find a remarkable instance of
this in a description Of a duel between
two officers at Limerick: "Mr. B. pro-
posed firing at twelve yards, but Mr..
J. said, No, six is enough So they
kissed II another (poor farce!) and
before they were five PAGES asunder
both fired at the same instant"
Hone, in his quaint old TABLE
Book" gives an account Of a curious
kissing festival held in Ireland:
"Easter Monday several hundred young
persons of the town and neighborhood
of Potsferry, County Down, resort.
dressed in their best, to a pleasant
walk near the town called The
Walter! The avowed object Of each
person is to see the fun, which consists
in the men kissing the females without
reserve. whether married or single.
This mode of ~salutation is quite a mat
ter of course; it is never taken amiss,
nor with much show of coyness. The
female must be ordinary indeed who
returns home without having received
at least a dozen hearty busses."
Kissing under the mistletoe is a GUS
tom Of very remote origin, and q prac-
tice too common to be dealt with here,
though it may not, perhaps. be known
that, owing to the licentious revelry to
which it gave occasion, mistletoe was
formerly excluded by ecclesiastic order
from the decoration Of the church at
Christmas time. Hone tells us that
there was an old belief that unless q
maiden was kissed under the mistletoe
at Christmas she would not be married
during the ensuing year.
In the ceremonial Of betrothal a kiss
has played an important part in sew
eral nations. A nuptial kiss in church,
at the conclusion of the marriage serv-
ices. is solemnly enjoined by the York
Missal and the Sarum Manual. In the
old play Of ''The ~Insensate Countess"
by Marston, occurs the line:
The kisse thou gav'st me in church here take.
It was also considered m honor to
be the first to kiss the bride after the
ceremony. and all who would might
contend for the prize. In the "Col-
lier's Wedding" by Edward Chicken,
we read:
Four rustic fellows wait the while
To kiss the Bride ut the church stile.
When ladies' lips were at the service
of all it became usual to have fragrant
scented comfits or sweets, of which
we find frequent mention. In Mas
singers "very Women occurs the
following:
Faith! search our pockets, and II you find
there,
Comfts Of mber.grease to help our kisses,
Conclude US faulty.
When kissing was thus a common
civility Of daily intercourse it is not to
be wondered at that it should find its
WAY lntO UIlo CUuEtcSIco Va uubiSlHSs VuA
thus VIC learn that "a kiss was, ancient
", the established fee Of o lady's part
ner." In a dialogue between Custom
and Verite, concerning the use and
abuse Of dancing and minstrelsic, print
cd by John Aide, is the following
verse:
But some reply, what fool would daunce,
Ifthat, when dsunce 10 doone,
He may not have at lady's lips
That which in daunce he woon.
In ..Thc Tempest this line occurs
Curtsied whom you have and kissed.
And Henry says to Anne Boleyn:
Sweet heart,
were u~nmannerly to take you out
And mot 10 kiss you'll
While thus quoting Shakespeare, it may
not be out Of place to give the pretty
pleading for a kiss Of Helena to her
boorish, churlish husbands:
I an not worthy Of the wealth I own;
MIR dsreI sey 'tts mine; and yet II 10;